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Health-care reform clumsy but necessary

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The Dispatch.

It is with considerable sadness and frustration that I view the continual disparaging of the
Affordable Care Act by the editorial section of
The Dispatch, including Editorial Cartoonist Nate Beeler. As a physician who has
participated in health-care delivery, let me highlight some of the facts that
The Dispatch has usually ignored.

Most important, the United States has the most expensive and nearly most inefficient health care
of all the advanced nations. Much of the expense is due to our fee-for-service model, in which many
folks either cannot afford health insurance or have had it denied, with care subsequently rendered
through emergency rooms.

This mode of care omits preventive services, as well as checks and testing to diagnose disease
early, thereby avoiding late and more expensive care when the patient is very sick.

If one lives in Columbus and happens to qualify for Medicare, Medicaid or have adequate health
insurance, his medical care is predictably good. However, if one doesn’t have one of these, his
medical care is often substandard. That contributes to the very high mortality and morbidity
statistics of U.S. care compared with other industrialized nations.

Short of universal health care, which the Republican Party would never support, the next-best
option was similar to that adopted by Massachusetts, characterized by a mix of insurance coverages,
continuing with work-based coverage, an array of insurance exchanges and federal programs.

Providing everyone with health insurance and adding preventative programs would, over time, be
less expensive than the present system.

Many options and opportunities exist within the framework of the ACA to test new approaches for
cost control and efficient implementation of health-care resources. Many problems will need to be
solved. We will need many more physicians and other health-care providers to efficiently care for
all.

The funding of medical education and research will be extremely important as we move forward. It
will take time, but the possibilities for a very workable Affordable Care Act are high.

Since status quo is untenable because our medical system is broken, it would be encouraging to
see
The Dispatch take a leadership role in helping folks understand why we need to change our
system and how it can be accomplished through this important first step.